Chapter Text
Shuichi picked at the inside of his collar as he made his way down the 2nd floor stairs of the school. Every streak of midday sunshine coming through the cracks in the barred windows just reminded him how much his multi-layer uniform was a bad choice for today. Not that he had a lot of choices these days. All he could do now was get back to the dorm and take a shower to cool off.
But he heard something that made him pause. He heard music coming from one of the rooms behind him, Kaede’s Ultimate Pianist Lab. But this didn’t sound like anything he’d ever heard her play before. It was frantic, with quiet, crawling jabs and sudden, shocking notes louder than anything else. It didn’t sound like Kaede, but who else could be playing?
After listening for a confused moment, Shuichi’s curiosity for mysteries got the better of him. He turned around and crept back to Kaede’s lab to investigate. What he saw when he opened the door was both relieving and confusing.
It was Kaede. She was banging away at the piano like a girl possessed, her hands sliding up and down the keys furiously. It was...a song, but wild, soaring, and a little bit stressful if Shuichi was honest. But after Kaede took a particularly wild slide all the way up the keys, she looked up enough to see Shuichi standing in the doorway, looking sweaty and baffled at her performance.
Kaede waved at Shuichi with one hand as she played another second or two with the other hand. Then she stopped altogether and jumped up from the piano.
“Oh hey, Shuichi! What’s up?”
“N-nothing! Just heard your, uh, playing on my way down the stairs and thought I’d see what was going on.”
“Oh! I was just practicing a new piece. Ginastera’s a change of pace for sure, but it’s super fun! It’s an Argentinian piece called Danzas Argentinas, No. 3. What do you think?” Kaede smiled.
She’s acting the same as always. Maybe some classical music is just… like this, Shuichi thought to himself. “I-It’s good,” Shuichi stuttered out with more tact than conviction. “Definitely different from what you normally play though.”
“Well, yeah,” Kaede said with one finger pointed up, as if holding a thought, “because I play things like Debussy and Chopin for you. A pretty song like Clair de Lune is more our style, right?”
Shuichi blushed a little at this. He didn’t usually know exactly what piece she meant when she talked music, but it sounded like a nice thought at least.
“Why don’t you sit down? You look like you’re burning up in that uniform. I’ll play something you’ll like more. You’ve heard Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude before, right?”
Shuichi wasn’t sure if he had, but he took a seat on the low bookshelf by the window. He sat by Kaede’s backpack, toward the front of the room, so he could see Kaede’s face. Kaede began playing again, much slower this time. As Kaede settled into the song, the lab’s atmosphere became much more comfortable. The song moved around one note being played over and over, changing around it as the song went on. But like the song, Shuichi’s mind also had one thought poking at it.
What does she mean, she plays things like this...for me?
Shuichi’s mind wandered as Kaede’s music continued. The song was pretty, but once his mind noticed a detail like that, he had to follow it wherever it led. Kaede’s piece was at a quiet, droning moment when Shuichi finally spoke up.
“Kaede? Do you...play different songs for different people?”
Kaede’s hands stopped moving, her mouth open for a second as she switched gears from playing piano to considering his question.
“Well yeah, of course! Music can connect you to people before you’ve even gotten to know them, you know? So once I get to know someone, I try and find the perfect sound to match them. That way, they can hear me and know I understand them. I guess that’s kind of a ‘Piano Freak’ thing to do, huh,” Kaede shrugged, clearly a bit embarrassed by her own enthusiasm.
Shuichi couldn’t help but smile, both at Kaede’s considerate nature and her slightly strange way of showing it. But this information only brought more thoughts in.
- Different songs for different people
- Wild, chaotic music
- Argentinian composer
- That song she was playing is meant for someone else, someone Kaede associates with...Argentina? Maybe South America? Or maybe being in wild, chaotic situations?
- Maybe Kokichi? He’s certainly wild and chaotic. I can’t imagine Kaede picking a song for him after me though. They don’t seem to get along that well.
- None of the students here are from South America. None have even been there, that I know of. But then again, there is one other student that I don’t know anything about…
“Kaede, that song you were playing before...is that song for Rantaro?”
Kaede’s face turned bright red, her mouth agape in surprise for a second. Then she smiled as wide as ever.
“Wow Shuichi, that was fast! Yup, that’s gonna be a piece for Rantaro, once I finish learning it. For someone who doesn’t know him well, you sure figured it out quickly. You’re definitely the Ultimate Detective! ”
“Hahaha...thanks,” Shuichi chuckled. He still wasn’t used to getting compliments from her. It seemed like everyone today was going to leave him flustered.
Kaede came over to Shuichi at the bookshelf and sat beside him. Then, she stuffed the sheet music for Rantaro’s song into her backpack.
“Any ideas for Maki? She’s kind of a mystery, so picking the right song has been a little tough...but if anyone can figure out what she likes, it’s us! With my knowledge of music and your detective skills, we’ll figure it out eventually, right?”
“Uhhh, I’m not sure my detective skills can do much when I know nothing about piano music,” Shuichi said with a nervous chuckle. “I think you might just have to get to know her a little better, Kaede.”
“That’s fine, I’m sure she’ll give me an idea eventually! I’m pretty good at deducing, myself, you know! Although all I have to go on right now is not to pick anything annoying...” Kaede sighed in resignation, a little deflated.
Then she grabbed his hand and squeezed just a little. “Shuichi,” Kaede mumbled with a tangible affection, “I really like you.” Shuichi still wasn't used to hearing her say that yet, and he could feel the red his ears must be turning. “I really like Rantaro and maybe Maki too. You’re still feeling good about us, right?” Kaede looked right into his eyes with a warm smile and just the faintest blush.
Shuichi couldn’t help but admit to himself, he was very, VERY nervous. Not because he doubted Kaede, but because he’d never done anything like this before. The detective adjusted his nagging collar again. “Y-yeah, it’s okay if you like other people too. I mean, we’re all here to connect with each other, right? That might be with one person or more than one. I’m just happy to be one of those people you want to spend time with. I’m glad we...have songs that are ours.” Shuichi broke eye contact with his last sentence. He was not used to seeing this sincere side of himself, even though it was becoming a pattern.
Kaede leaned over and kissed his cheek. After a beat she pulled away and stood up, but not before squeezing his hand affectionately one more time.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. I’m happy too. You know, I’m not the only one who can care about more than one person. You can too. It’d be fine with me if you liked someone else too,” Kaede added as she put on her backpack.
“Y-yeah, I know…”
“You going to train again with Kaito tonight?”
“Oh yeah, we always meet up after the night announcement. Although it’s going to be a rough night if he asks a lot of me,” Shuichi added, not feeling up to matching his friend’s enthusiasm today. Especially when Kaito never did as much as he asked of Shuichi…
“Well, good luck! I need to go and find Maki and try for more info,” Kaede said as she walked toward the door. “And Shuichi…”
“What is it, Kaede?”
“Next time, let’s talk about how things are going with Ryoma, okay?”
Shuichi felt all the air leave the room in an instant. “W-what do you mean, Kaede? I never said I was hanging out with Ryoma!”
Kaede stopped her exit and turned on the spot to face Shuichi, a determined smirk on her face.
“Welllll, you said you heard my music while you were headed down the stairs, right? So before you came here, you were headed downstairs. As in, coming from the second floor and heading toward the first. You smelled pretty strongly like that same deodorant you always use when I kissed you, and you were definitely sweaty when you came in here. You said you haven’t trained with Kaito yet today, so you must have gotten sweaty exercising with someone else, right? The gym, the pool, and Tenko’s dojo are on the ground floor, so you couldn’t have come from there. The only place where you could work up a sweat above the 1st floor of the school is Ryoma’s Ultimate Tennis Lab on the 3rd floor, right? You worked up a sweat playing tennis with Ryoma!”
Shuichi sat there, stunned by Kaede’s sudden accusation, mouth open and cheeks burning hot.
“Well, that’s...Look Kaede, Ryoma’s just...I don’t even know if he…” Shuichi stuttered around five or six different starts to a conversation he was absolutely not prepared to have yet. But Kaede just laughed her sweet laugh.
“You know, you’re really cute when you get caught. Don’t forget, I’m pretty good at deducing too. Let me know if you want a song for Ryoma~”
And with that she was gone, leaving Shuichi to wrap his head around the whole exchange.
I think I’ll stick to discovering truths, instead of hiding them. Especially from Kaede…